Surrey sign Sai Kishore for two-game County Championship stint

Left-arm fingerspinner R Sai Kishore has signed to play for Surrey in Division One of the County Championship. Sai Kishore, 28, will be available for two first-class games towards the end of July.

His first game, set to be in Scarborough, could see Sai Kishore come up against his former Chennai Super Kings team-mate Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has signed with Yorkshire. Sai Kishore will end his short stint with a game against Durham in Chester-le-Street, which will run from July 29 to August 1.

"I'm really excited to be joining Surrey for the next two County Championship matches," Sai Kishore said in a statement. "Surrey are one of the most prestigious clubs in the world and I have heard great things about the set-up from lots of different people in the game."

Alec Stewart, Surrey's high-performance advisor, welcomed Sai Kishore into the team. "I'm delighted to bring the highly rated Sai Kishore into our squad for the next two Kookaburra games," Stewart said. "All the reports I have received from people I respect in the Indian game have spoken highly of him. His four-day record for Tamil Nadu is very good and he brings leadership experience to the group."

This will be Sai Kishore's first appearance in county cricket. He has been on a steady diet of T20 cricket from March, emerging as the second-highest wicket-taker among spinners in IPL 2025, with 19 strikes in 15 games at an economy rate of 9.24 for Gujarat Titans. On Sunday, he had led his club to their maiden Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) T20 title.

During the IPL, Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand captain and current Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach, delivered a glowing appraisal of Sai Kishore's skills.

"Sai Kishore has been the pick [of the spinners]," Vettori said at a press conference. "He's been fantastic, and I think he was a guy we looked very closely at in the auction and wanted him in the team. He's very brave, his ability to turn the ball and change his pace and angle from over and around the wicket.

"I think it sort of sets up a template for other spinners to see how you can actually compete and succeed, and he's done it on good batting wickets as well. I know he came to Hyderabad and bowled exceptionally well. I think he's been incredibly impressive."

Sai Kishore's red-ball numbers are also impressive: 192 wickets in 46 first-class games at an average of 23.51 and economy rate of 2.76. In the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season, Sai Kishore was the highest wicket-taker with 53 strikes in nine games at an average of 18.52 in Tamil Nadu's run to the semi-finals.

He has since slipped down the pecking order in red-ball cricket for the national side, with Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey winning call-ups for the India A tour of England. The stint with Surrey is a chance for Sai Kishore to push his red-ball case and tune up for the 2025-26 domestic season in India.

Sai Kishore has already had a taste of English conditions as a reserve player with the visiting India side in 2022. He bowled 14 overs against the Indians, coming away with the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara for 22 in a tour game at Grace Road in Leicester.

Sai Kishore has played three matches for India, all T20Is. After playing county cricket, he may turn out for Tamil Nadu in the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament in the lead-up to the Ranji Trophy. Under his leadership, Tamil Nadu have reached the knockouts in the last two seasons of the Ranji Trophy.

Having won three county championship titles in a row, Surrey are eyeing a four-peat this season. Sai Kishore's long-time team-mate at GT and Tamil Nadu, B Sai Sudharsan, was a part of Surrey's title-winning campaigns in 2023 and 2024.